‘The secret self’: time, memory and childhood in two short stories by Katherine Mansfield
Abstract
English: This article examines Katherine Mansfield’s notion of self by considering two of her short
stories, ‘Prelude’ (1918) and ‘At the bay’ (1922), as well as her biographical writing.
It links her desire to acknowledge “the secret self” with her inclination to examine and
contest existing notions of the self and its expression in fiction. Mansfield was concerned
with exploring the self at its least inhibited, and for this reason the article focuses on
works that draw on childhood reminiscences. It also discusses Mansfield’s innovative use
of time to suggest the properties of memory. It explores how Mansfield’s art differed
from the conventions and traditions of Edwardian fiction, as well as how she was
influenced by, and stood in relation to contemporaries with whom she corresponded,
such as Virginia Woolf and D H Lawrence, thus also placing her in a modernist context.
It also examines how Freud’s concept of the unconscious functions in Mansfield’s fiction,
drawing on Kristeva’s writing for this analysis. It argues that Mansfield’s achievement of
her distinctive voice as a writer is interwoven with her exploration of ideas of self. Afrikaans: Hierdie artikel ondersoek Katherine Mansfield se denkbeeld van die self deur middel
van twee van haar kort verhale ‘Prelude’ (1918) en ‘At the bay’ (1922), en haar biografiese
werke. Dit koppel haar begeerte om “die geheime self” te erken met haar voorkeur
om bestaande selfidees en die uitdrukking daarvan te ondersoek. Mansfield wou
die self ondersoek wanneer dit minder teruggehoue was, daarom fokus hierdie artikel
op haar werke wat terugkyk na haar kindsdae en op Mansfield se vindingryke gebruik
van tyd om eienskappe van die geheue voor te stel. Dit ondersoek Mansfieldiese kuns en
verskille tussen die konvensies en tradisies van Edwardiaanse literatuur, en hoe sy beïnvloed
was deur, en haar verhouding met, haar tydgenote soos Virginia Woolf en D H
Lawrence met wie sy gekorrespondeer het, en wat haar dus ook in ’n modernistiese
konteks plaas. Deur gebruik te maak van Kristeva se geskrifte ondersoek dit ook hoe
Freud se konsep van die onbewuste in Mansfield se fiksie funksioneer. Mansfield se
onderskeidende stem as skrywer is vervleg met haar verkenning van idees van die self.